Reddit reviews In the Himalayan Nights

The entire succession story after Gurudev died is very complex. A part of it is found here:

http://indology.info/papers/sundaresan/


When Gurudev died in 1953, he hadn't publicly named an heir. A will was produced that named Gurudev's nephew, Svāmī Śāntānanda Sarasvatī, at the top of a list of 5 potential successors.

The organization that had named Gurudev to the position of Shankaracharya was very upset that they couldn't name a new heir and proceeded to name their own, claiming that Gurudev's nephew was completely unsuitable.

The will was contested in court, but the judge basically said he had "no standing" and Gurudev's nephew continued to hold the ashram that Gurudev had built. The committee's choice for Shankaracharya was put in a new ashram a few miles down the road, and for many years, if you happened to show up at Jyotirmath to see the Shankaracharya, you would be politely asked "which one?"

This controversy went on for about 35-40 years. Swami Shantananda Saraswati retired at one point and another person in the will was named Shankaracharya. Then he died, and Shantananda Saraswati reassumed control long enough to select one of HIS students as Shankaracharya, as there was no-one left on the list (at least who wasn't willing to cave to teh will of the committee). At some point, a former student of Gurudev's who had been named Shankaracharya of another math was appointed by the committee and the case went back to court after Swami Shantananda Saraswati died. At this point, the judge ruled that the former student, even though he had studied for many years more with a different teacher, was a better choice and sided with the committee.

Coincidentally, the committee had despised Maharishi since even before Gurudev died, apparently because he was low caste and held a position of great influence in the ashram.


So, according to a judge's ruling, the new Shankaracharya, someone who had studied with Gurudev for 1/10 the time that Maharishi had and was NOT the choice of Gurudev's preferred successor (according to the will), is now in charge of two different Maths.

This particular person does NOT like Maharishi, TM, or anything that has ever been done by any of the successor Shankaracharyas named in Gurudev's will whom he never reconized as valid (he left the Jyotirmath ashram immediately after Gurudev died, presumably because he didn't like Swami Shantananda Saraswati and Maharishi).

The TM organization still recognizes the other guy as the real Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, however, and given the relative levels of financing of the two rivals, and how important wealth is in India, that counts for an awful lot.

A good friend of mine, Professor Anoop Chandola, heard various bits of insider info from his uncle, who was part of the committee who selected Gurudev in the first place, 70 years ago. Professor Chandola tells the story that when he went to visit the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath 40 years ago or so, he was given the choice of which to visit, and chose to visit Gurudev's nephew. While he was there (being the nephew of one of the guys who helped select Gurudev made it very easy to get an audience), he asked Swami Shantananda Saraswati "What about this Maharishi who is with the Beatles? Is he legitimate?"

The response was "Let me put it this way: he would be my first choice as my successor, but they won't allow it due to the caste laws."

Professor Chandola's attitude about the whole whole thing can be found in the chapters of his novel, In the Himalayan Nights, where Shankaracharyas and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi are discussed by two of the characters of his book:

>"In my head, the same question was reverberating, so I asked him, "The Maharishi lived in Garhwal for so many years. He would have been the Shankaracharya at Joshimath."

>"No. He was denied that title. He was not a Brahmin. His Kayasth caste disqualified him. He would have been a better Shankaracharya than either of those two quarrelling Brahmin Shankaracharyas, though."

>"Yes, I heard of the two Shankaracharyas who went to Allahabad High Court to settle the claim," I said to show my famliarity with the court case.

>"The Maharishi could have claimed that position," Shib Duttt said, slapping his thing for emphasis.

>"But then the Maharishi could have challenged the caste system. Some even believe that the Kayasth caste does not fit in the traditional varna system."

>"It is an irony that the Maharishi accepted the worthless caste system. The Gita was his favorite scripture. He never challenged its support of the varna. He was a student of physics. Shouldn't he have debunked the claim of Krishna as the head of Nature as simply a myth created by the Brahmin men?"